The Carmel Bach Festival is honored to be the recipient of a $500,000 gift from an anonymous longtime member of our devoted Festival community. The donor has been a passionate supporter of the arts and a dedicated patron of the Festival for more than 30 years, including serving as a volunteer in the Festival office in the 1990s.
“This generous gift is a testament to the truly remarkable Carmel Bach Festival community,” says Executive Director Nathan Lutz. Board President, Cyril Yansouni notes, “It represents an investment in the long-term sustainability of the Festival and a beautiful, enduring reminder of our deep and unique connections with our musicians, our volunteers, and our patrons.”
The funds will be applied as a very significant supplement to grow the Festival Endowment’s “Founders Fund,” which was established in 2017 to secure the long-term financial success of the Festival and to promote our artistic excellence. Monterey Peninsula philanthropist Roberta Bialek Elliott seeded the Founders Fund with a transformational donation of $2.3 million in honor of Festival creators Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous, and of the outstanding women who have had a significant impact on the Carmel Bach Festival. The establishment of the Founders Fund marked our 80th anniversary.
Now in its 87th season, the Carmel Bach Festival continues to delight audiences of all ages during two weeks in July in which we bring together extraordinarily talented musicians from around the world to present a remarkable and diverse range of major concerts and more intimate recitals throughout the Monterey Peninsula. Tickets are still available at bachfestival.org for this year’s stunning series celebrating the passions and the transformational influence of J.S. Bach.